After last weeks blog I’ve been curious how this week’s blog would go in regards to what is being done in Room
.
I simply want to say this. The administrative team at Joy Christian School are overwhelmingly supportive. I am grateful for the team environment at Joy. I don’t think I need to remind anybody that any conflict has the potential to cause great disaster…even a smaller conflict like the one I posted about last week. The Bible says in James 3:5 referencing our tongue/mouth, “But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire.” The best way to snuff out a spark is to douse it with water. I could have chosen to bring gasoline to the spark, but I’m grateful I chose water. Are you bringing gasoline or water to your “fires”? In John 4:14 of the Holy Bible, Jesus says, “Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
Does what you bring to a conflict/argument add life or bring death?
Sometimes we think it feels good to win arguments. I’ve found, that most of the time, when I think I have won the argument…I actually lost the person in my win. Can you relate? I would warn us all to be careful in enjoying a battle we are winning, because our focus on just the battle may blind us to the fact that we are actually losing the war. Some “wins” are not worth winning. I’m grateful for how my meeting went.
Enough about last week. This week flew by. First of all, Labor Day weekend used up Monday, leaving Joy School with a 4 day school week. Oh, I’m not complaining, 🙂 I’m just stating a fact. The 3 day weekend was great.
The remaining 4 days were packed with what is called extra-curricular activity that caused a lot of interruptions in Rm 1501. Many people needed to come into Rm 1501 to announce future events and bring clarity to school and church functions. We had a picture day where every student had to leave class to go and get their school photo taken. We had chapel on Wednesday. We had our first, All-School Pep Rally….And, our football team and Spirit line had to leave early on Friday to head to Tucson, AZ to play Pusch Ridge Christian Acadamy in what was called the 7th most recommended football game to watch in the state of AZ this week!
Pusch Ridge was ranked 4th in the state in our division. Joy Christian was ranked 7th. Joy beat Pusch Ridge decisively 28-6. (The competitor in me has to add that with 13 seconds left, we took a knee on the one yard line where we would have scored another touch down making the final score 34-6. (The competitor in me grumbled about this classy and great sportsmanship decision by our coaching staff.) 🙂 It was a great decision! I love the direction that JCS is going!
So, as you can tell, this past week was very challenging to get any academia completed in my 40 minute classes. I spoke briefly about this with one of Joy’s School Administrators. I suppose it might have sounded close to complaining. The administrator with a big smile looked at me and said, “Wow Trent, you are starting to sound like a teacher!” I laughed. They laughed too. That comment stuck with me and I have thought about it further.
As a teacher, I have an agenda and a lesson plan that I want to accomplish every day…every week. This agenda is full of academia…A very important thing. But, is it the most important thing? If I’m not careful I could easily slip into thinking that my academia lesson plan/agenda is the most important thing. I must pause and remember to…
Never let school get in the way of our student’s education!
Academia is a part of education. It is not all of education.
Education > Classroom Academia
Sports, Art, Extra Curricular activities, field trips, student council, free time, sick days, etc…are all a part of the world classroom’s education process. The world is our classroom…nothing can truly be controlled and the best schools in the world accept this fact. The best education is a diversified education. Even the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 8:1, “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.”
The students in Room 1501 will get to spend the rest of their lives learning knowledge. I am teaching the students of Room 1501 Bible Knowledge…and at 43 I am still learning it too.
I must make sure, in my attempts to transfer knowledge, to never forget…
LOVE is more important than KNOWLEDGE.
The love for sports, art, free time with friends, extra curricular activities, field trips, student council, and even being gone because of sickness is vital to a great education. I think the most famous educators in the world would agree that the best knowledge is not learned in the academic classroom. I think you would acknowledge this fact too. Do you agree?
It was a crazy-busy week, but it was a great week.
Here comes Monday